Return from suspension pairs Anthony with Iverson

The day after the NBA's leading scorer was banned for 15 games for fighting, the Denver Nuggets acquired seven-time All-Star Allen Iverson, who was the league's second-leading scorer at the time.

Can two high-scoring superstars coexist?

Sure, Iverson said, insisting he's carried the load for so long in his career that he's ready to serve as wingman to the 22-year-old Anthony.

"I've never played with nobody that good," Iverson said.

Anthony hasn't, either, and, he too, swears there won't be any problems playing alongside A.I. After all, he thrived with the U.S. team at the world championships last summer while playing with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

"I can't wait to play with Allen," he said. "It's going to be great."

Iverson said offense won't be a problem when Anthony gets back, and Anthony agrees.

"I think it's going to take some time to get a rhythm for everybody when I come back," Anthony suggested. "We all got to make an adjustment. It's going to take a couple of games."

Anthony, who returns from his 36-day absence Monday night when the Nuggets face the Memphis Grizzlies at the Pepsi Center, said in an open letter of apology to fans and the team on Sunday that he'll return a better player and a better person.

He'll also return to a lineup that's much different from the one he last saw on Dec. 16, when he clocked New York Knicks guard Mardy Collins, who had collared J.R. Smith on the way to the basket, leading to a brawl that resulted in 10 ejections and seven suspensions.

The day after the suspensions were handed down, the Nuggets sent Andre Miller, Joe Smith and two first-round draft picks to Philadelphia for Iverson. Then, they dealt Earl Boykins and Julius Hodge to Milwaukee for Steve Blake, who helped the Nuggets win their last three games to finish 7-8 without Anthony.

Coach George Karl has spent countless hours concocting plays to complement both his superstars.

"They are both great offensive players," Karl said. "I'm not into this (notion) that it won't work. I think great players like to play with great players. Sometimes it's not as perfect and fluid as the San Antonio Spurs or teams like that. But normally in time you can figure that if they will cooperate and move the ball and pass the ball, good stuff will happen."

Karl's contemporaries suggest the Nuggets will find a way to make it work.

"There will be absolutely no problem," Spurs coach Greg Popovich said. "They respect each other. Anthony has a great inside game. Iverson has the penetration ability and perimeter."

Former Nuggets player Ruben Patterson, now with the Bucks, isn't so sure things will click.

"There's only one NBA basketball," he said. "I don't know how they're going to get all those shots off."

Spurs center Tim Duncan doesn't see that as a problem.

"Iverson and Carmelo will work well together," Duncan said. "David Robinson and I got it done together. I'm not seeing anything different from Carmelo and Allen. They are different types of players than David and I were. They are both offensive-minded and are volume shooters. I think Allen is one heck of a competitor and passer."

Anthony had polished his public and corporate image and had steered clear of the controversies that dogged him early in his career. He gave $3 million to Syracuse, which he led to the national championship in 2003, toward construction of a basketball facility.

Anthony, who got the harshest punishment of the seven suspsended players, figures he could have had the penalty reduced on appeal but wanted to put the mess behind him.